Author: howlingdogjewelrycapdap1838

It’s been awhile since I last posted. My goal is to post once a week. I just haven’t decided which day.

This week I have been working on my Etsy shop. Improving the shop with photos of all my helpers and updates. Making jewerly is fun and I can zone out. Taking care of my etsy shop is a must to keep people engaged with my shop. I am trying to keep things interesting.

Learning about Marmalead.com has really helped with my titles and tags. So much that I have sold 4 pieces of jewelry this month alone. I have to say that is a first. Exciting to see all the great reviews too.

Another lesson is to get my jewelry piece inventory better organized. they are all stored in totes and in their own gift box. Problem is I have to go through each box to find what I have sold.

Solution: Separate into categories: earrings, necklace, pendants, lockets, etc. the same categories that are listed in my Etsy shop. Another is to then number the boxes and add that to the title. We started that using labels and have found they are not sticking very well, So I need to come up with a plan B. LOL!

Taking a thumbprint picture was another thought by my hubby. He would have to take that project on.

WE are also working on my branding for Howling Dog Jewelry that I can use for packaging,social media, etc.

This is my my 4th attempt of Andrew Thorton monthly challenges and mystery challenges. Really loving this. This was my first design I made for this challenge.

I made these heart leaves about 2 years ago. I didn’t know what to do with them or how incorporate into a piece of jewelry. It was the technique I had learned at the time.

So while I was searching for some others beads to use for this challenge of salmon, pink, and light greens, I found my leaves in the exact colors of the Mystery challenge.

Back side of how I connect the heart leaves to the necklace. I am always curious how others connect the polymer clay pieces so I thought I would show you how I did this one.

My next design was my love of the vintage looks. And the light pink salmon colors went perfect with my vintage filigree from B’Sue Boutique’s. I used seval different styles and types of beads with this necklace design. It really gave it more interest and detail.

I think this style is one of my favorites to do.

I just love how the focal with all the dangles turned out. So classy and vintage looking.

“Park near Lu.” was created when Klee was stimulated by an impression of nature that he experienced in a park near Lucerne. The picture reflects his personal condition at the time. The branches are bare and devoid of leaves, as in winter. But “Park near Lu.” is not a winter picture. There is a contrast between the hard black bar strokes that represent the branches and the bright colour tonality of the spaces between them. The work therefore includes spring and winter, death and blossoming in equal measure.
It seems to have been a specific landscape which inspired Paul Klee to paint this picture. Klee’s wife Lily traveled several times in the late 1930’s to Lucerne for health reasons and she spent time in a sanatorium. Paul Klee had visited her there, when his own physical condition permitted and strolled with her through the park around the sanatorium.

I began this monthly challenge with making the colors

Next, it was to decide how to interpret this piece of art.

What I had in-visioned was fall leaves have gone and the trees are bare. I also felt like there was a bird in the picture.

Below are some samples in the beginning stages of what would later be necklaces, earrings, and more.

These pendants are still on the drawing table as to How I am going to finish them.

I made a mold from a vintage piece of brass and then made a mold in polymer of each color.

I want to highlight the details of the stampings and still working on which technique I will use for them.

They will be a single pendant

I also used some mica powders and stensil to make patterns on another set of beads with organic shapes.

I made a necklace that resembled the trees and branches of the park and then added birds to give the necklace a little whimsy. I then took the scrap clay and made focal beads . So to continue the bird look I added my cute little bead birds with laves all made with the original color blends I made to match the Art.. I just love how they all work together with the necklace and carry the same theme of the birds and trees. I love doing these challenges with colors and it really stretches my creativity.

My bird focal pendants are being sold as just a pendant. Allowing the new owner of the birds make a necklace in their own style.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my creative process for challenges. I am entering challenges monthly now and loving every moment. So back each month or sooner to see what is going on with the Howling Dog. I am going to attempt making a blog entry each week to keep things up to date and fresh.

My Next Challenge with Allegory Challenges was the Nomad kit. Reds and Blacks which are a real challenge for me. I don’t usually create with black I need contrast to see.and very grateful for the red. I love red but there are so many shades of red I have stayed away fro it. This was a great kit again stretching my creativity. Below is the kit and my pics from this kit. Please enjoy and thank you for any comments. Cindy Peterson

Nomad Kit

This time I did use some of the cord and seed beads in my design. I did add some matte black stamping s to the design for added interest. The focal is the center of this fabulous charm necklace.

Hello Everyone, I am doing some new challenges this year to stretch my artistic and creative side; with new months challenges, new inspirations, meeting new artists and designers. I love learning new techniques and new inspirations. My friend Gloria Allen from Gloria Allen Designs has invited me to join her with Andrew Thornton‎ and Allegory Gallery Design Challenges I love the set of beads he sends and yes there are more seed beads and tiny tiny beads, which if you know anything about me that is a challenge in itself. Read more About me.

So as usually I don’t just go for one thing, I go with both feet in and take on more. I have a great passion for art and the art of making jewelry So I didn’t Just enter one of the Tribes Challenges I entered 2 of them. Petals is my first show case and Nomad is my second show case I will share.

This is what I received for the Petal Challenge

We could use as much of the kit as we wanted. So I first sorted everything and fell in love with several of the beads. I love pink so that part was easy. Was not sure what to do with the wax linen cord as I have never used it. Then there were those seed beads. Again I don’t usually have these as a go to bead in my stash. But was going to learn how to use them. At this point I was very glad I had attended B’Sue Boutiques Workshop in May as I learned how to wire bead the Miriam Haskell style with seed beads.

Art Bead Scene May Jewelry Challenge

My fellow jewelry artist Gloria Allen of Gloria Allen Designs wanted me to join this group and enter into the monthly challenges. She knows I make polymer clay beads and incorporate them into my jewelry for a mixed media design.

This is a FUN adventure and it has stretched my creativity to go beyond flowers and to look at art as inspiration.

The inspiration was a picture of a house, with colors in blue, white, grey, black, and a maroon.

I took my inspiration in the direction of color and lines. My necklace is made with rectangular polymer beads. I used a dragging technique to make the wavy lines in the clay. Then I added black square beads to depict a house image and blue round gemstones to soften the look and take on the color of the sky. For additional softness to the sharp lines I added black and white donut gemstones to the earrings and necklace. which also has the same colors and wavy lines as the polymer beads.

Academic Achievements

Hillsboro High School, Oregon

My 16 yr old daughter Amanda was honored for her 3.8 GPA with a Letter and certificate. The school wanted to start this new letter program for kids with 3.5 GPA or greater.

Amanda also has a new baby Kitty named Westly. He is so cute and still very calm. I know it is probably the calm before the kitty storm. He is only 5 mos and we adopted hi m through the Humane Society for Amanda’s Christmas present.

Listing in Etsy

Learning about how to list, is something I am concentrating on these days. How to make your titles with keywords. I started my listing titles with a unique name for the piece, like Spring Garden Necklace. Then learned that not too many people will search for that in a necklace.

I now understand that searchable keywords is what I should be using in my titles. This way more customers can find me and my shop. You will be seeing some changes in my shop as I learn more about listing in Etsy.I believe in Etsy and think it is a great place for me and my jewelry. If others can do it and sell, I can too. It is a learning process and I was the child who loved to learn. And, then I followed through the best I can with the new information.

So Hang on to your Seats! Howling Dog Jewelry is busting out of the gates with focussing on her Etsy Shop.

What was the experience like

It was fun, interesting, loved talking with the customers, and yet disappointing. I was told that my jewelry would do well at this venue last year but did not have the help to try it. This year I had the help, the inventory, and lots of family support. So I made this giant leap.

The last weekend was supposed to be promising. Other vendors had stated they do very well on Saturday the busiest and Sunday. Sunday though customers were looking for sales. I could handle that if I need to clear inventory. It really didn’t matter what we did, this was not the place for my jewelry. Had gone into this venue with High hopes of doing good each day. That was not to be.

Dec 4th was the bring canned foods and get in free day. So it did attract the younger families and the seniors. What I noticed was the young mom’s were not really shopping, they were merely socializing. This was their outing without the kids. This is just my take on my isle of the bazaar. I am sure there were people buying but you need the crowd to be interested in shopping.

DEC 5th, SATURDAY the big shopping day. Started off really slow. Then from 11 am to 1 pm it picked up a little. But then died after that. I made under $100.00. I had my printed signs with the price ranges for my different types of jewelry with my logo. We rearranged the setup. Yes, more people came in, but most just looked. An experienced vendor suggested these types of signs even though I had everything priced. She was a jewelry vendor who was asked to be there, she said yes if she could pick her spot. By then end of the day she was not happy with this venue at all. She was accustomed to making $2,ooo a day at our well known Saturday Market in Portland.

Dec 6th Sunday Last day of the Bazaar. With Cheerful attitude we all made some signs putting everything on sale as that was what was expected by customers. I know! I know! What you will all say. But, We did it to see what would happen on the last day. ( 11 am Saturday)

(Saturday 1pm)(Saturday Afternoon )

I did $165 in sales, 3 necklaces, ring, 4 earrings in a bottle, hair clip and David sold his key chains. David actually did very well his first time. He made $30.00 over the 6 days. He was very pleased. Amanda made $10. 00 and Elizabeth made $18.00 over the 6 days. Marie made $80.00.I did make my booth fee and parking fee. But this is about it.

To sum it all up

This was not the Market for me.

Putting jewelry on sale doesn’t make it sell any better at this type of venue.

Make sure your prices if on sale are the same on Etsy as the show.

Check with several others about how well a show is doing for artisans before signing up. I had to sign up for this show in April.

I don’t want to make things for $5.00 to sell. It is not my style or way of thinking.

I am an artist not a crafter. ( Not to down play crafters and their talents by all means)

I make quality jewelry, not made elsewhere in another Country, My supplies come from USA.

Even though they had over 500 artisans. The most ever, this bazaar had the feel of a Fair Show or the Arizona swap meet ( as Duane says).

Most of the Artisans first timers I spoke too are not coming back next year.

What is my next step

My next step is to focus more on my Etsy shop and load more of my jewelry in my shop. My goal is to put something up every day during the week. I am also hoping to find better venues to sell at that are geared for Artisans.

Thank you for following my experiences with a big Show. I hope everyone has learned something from my experiences. I do not regret the experience. I did learn a lot.

Never give up …. Insights

We learned a lot about this show. We had heard how well vendors had done from some friends. But they left out a few details about the show.

Black Friday is not usually busy because we have a local Civil War football game. However we did have $163.oo in sales

Saturday reported by the vendors we spoke to, was a day of a lot of looking. Customers just were not buying. Marie wanted to try” Buy 1 get 1 half off ” sale. We did this for 2 hours. It was not my jewelry , not my pricing, it was just the customers were not buying .We did sell two earrings in a bottle.

Sunday was a very bad day for me, as I could not go to the show because of IBS issues. On the good side Duane made the first sale of the day for $43.00. They made more sales in the morning and then afternoon nothing. Today Duane and Marie tried a different approach ” 25% off” sale. Made a little difference but the crowds were not there.

We find out later that day that Next weekend is the busiest. Friday is a day where they get in free with canned foods. So we will get the seniors and the moms with kids in school, I am told. Saturday should be based on the past busier. And Sunday the last day is usually the busiest as customers are expecting sales from vendors that want to unload their inventory.

A vendor next to my sisters booth is selling wire style jewelry that is .999 silver but not sterling. She has signage that states for example necklaces $39 – $69. Even though each piece is priced. She also states that no handwritten signs everything should be printed and in a sign holder. Looks more professional she says. She was apparently doing ok. But other jewelry vendors were having sales like us.

We have moved the bottle earrings down to table level as that seems to be were everyone was looking at them. We had them in two heights. So we changed that Saturday and basically put all earrings on one table. We have necklaces and bracelets on the other table.

But while I was at home and thinking about the customer flow I thought about making a change.

I am going to move the glass shelves to the side isle and the earrings and bracelets to the front isle. The necklace will stay where they are. Still thinking about this approach have not talked to Marie to see what she thinks.

Marie did go over and help my sister who was also having sale issues. Marie changed her look as she was also on a corner selling her bags, to a diagonal look. Kathy would have her back to the corner. Well must have worked as she made $120 in sales. Her best day. Thank you Marie for helping my sister too. I am very blessed to have Marie and Duane and the girls in my corner as well.

I had two customers tell me my jewelry is perfect for Baby Boomers who have the money. They thought I had well made , good designs, and beautiful jewelry. They said I needed someone to help me Market my line and that I should go on Shark Tank and go on QVC. I told them I had my jewelry in two salons. They said nopexpo that is not the right place for my jewelry. They were so cute and you could see the wheels turning as they thought this all out.

Our daughters Elizabeth and Amanda have not sold any of their earrings for $5.00. But no one has even looked at them. David has sold 2 of his Mind Craft creeper key chains. He has made $10.00.

That is all I have from this weekend of learning about a big show in Portland at the Expo Center. I know it is not me, my prices, or my jewelry. It is just the venue. So I am praying that they are right and that the final weekend is the best of show. To date we have made a total of $268.00.